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San Juan Capistrano‘s tiered water rates were declared unconstitutional because SJC had a doofus city council, not because tiered water rates are a problem per se.
Recently the California appellate court held that San Juan Capistrano’s tiered water rates violated Proposition 218‘s provisions relating to rules for “Property related fees.” (Article XIII D, sec 6(b) ), setting off widespread concern that a key conservation tool was in jeopardy.
Not Really.
This past Friday morning MWDOC’s monthly Water Advisory Committee (WACO) was devoted to the lawsuit and its implications for Water Districts.
The summary:
- Tiered rates are fine.
- Rates need to be tied to an identified cost structure
- The cost basis for the rates needs to be documented,
- Water Districts can still impose penalties. But such penatlies must be handled analogously to “laws” such as “jay walking,” not built into the rate structure
- Water districts can still impose mandatory restrictions.
That third item is what caught out the San Juan Capistrano city council: the judge asked for the documentation, the city didn’t have it, case closed.
Water districts still have wide latitude to set rates and pursue conservation goals — but the costs driving those rates must be visible and documented.
So what does this have to do with the Poseidon Adventure, the mooted Huntington Beach desalination project?
Poseidon has another desalination plant coming on line in Carlsbad at the end of this year. The San Diego Water District will have to reset its rates to reflect the enormous costs of building and running the plant. Thanks to Prop 218 and the successful lawsuit from San Juan, San Diego will have to be quite forthcoming about just how expensive that de-sal water is and who is getting stuck with the bill.
Until “admin” gets something else up, this is your weekend open thread. Wonk out about… whatever.
*”Wadda Wadda Wadda everywhere, but not a drop to drink!” “Went to sea shore to go to sea…..and waddaya sea….you see the sea!” Keyser Soze seems to be at large here. Teared Rates? Tired Rates? Tried and True Rates? We are confused. If you use a gallon of wadda….you pay the standard $4 bucks, like everyone else. If you buy two gallons,…..let’s see……how about $8 Bucks? Meanwhile, those with Golf Courses, Commercial Buildings with Lake Effects and Fountains wadda……hmmm, probably should pay a bit more cause they use more and waste more….right? If you are growing Strawberries in the Central Valley……you get the Big-Agra Discount…..cause you are busy sending our best Strawberries to Five Star Restaurants around the Globe and stashing your profits in off shore backs. You guys probably do need a Good Guy Discount….with all those extra things you have to do with both the wadda and the cash.
You could have stopped at “we are confused.”
Another great singer passes away :Ronnie Gilbert of The Weavers’ folk group.
Goodnight, Irene!
From the Atlantic via Yahoo-
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/hospitals-overcharge-patients-1000-200000888.html
(Note the shade of CA on the map)
To misquote the “most interesting” guy in the Dos Equis commercial-
“Stay healthy, my friends ! “
Please consider this petition from Amnesty International: http://act.amnestyusa.org/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1839&ea.campaign.id=35147&ea.tracking.id=Country_SaudiArabia~MessagingCategory_CensorshipandFreeSpeech&ac=W1506EAIAR1&ea.url.id=414364&forwarded=true
URGENT: My husband Raif’s sentence was upheld. He could be lashed this week.
When I last spoke to my husband, he told me something I won’t forget.
He told me not to expect him home in the near future.
On Sunday, we learned that Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court made the decision to uphold my husband Raif Badawi’s sentence — 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes, to which he was sentenced for blogging.
Take action for my husband: Please help me prevent him from being flogged this Friday. Call the Saudi embassy today.
The court’s decision terrifies me. It means that Raif will not only stay behind bars thousands of miles away from us — his family — but also that he might be flogged again as soon as this Friday. Though he hasn’t been flogged since January 9, his sentence states that he is set to endure 950 more lashes over the span of 19 agonizing weeks.
Free people like you have done so much to mobilize on Raif’s behalf. Raif asks about you and the protests you’ve organized nearly every time I speak with him.
I’m asking you now to continue to raise your voice. It’s in moments like these that the Saudi authorities need to truly feel the pressure from dedicated activists like you.
Please call the Saudi embassy today to ask that Raif be unconditionally released.
Raif taught me to hang on, to be resilient and to continue fighting for his release. Though it is difficult in these moments, I know that these moments are the most important ones.
Thank you for continuing the fight.
Ensaf HaidarSincerely,
Ensaf Haidar
Wife of imprisoned Saudi Arabian activist Raif Badawi
P.S. Please call the Saudi embassy in Washington D.C. at (202) 342-3800. Press 2 for English, then 0 for the operator. Ask embassy officials to act urgently to see that Raif Badawi is not flogged, and that he is immediately and unconditionally freed. You can also mention that flogging is a violation of international law.